Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.

Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.

Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.

It's amazing to see what offends the sensibility of Americans. Underwear flapping in the wind is amazing but a corrupt government isn't offensive. Neither are the bloody wars of expansionism that its country wages. Or the fact that they steal from the poor to give to the rich. Or the fact that 1 out of 7 Americans is starving. Or the fact that 50 million more don't have life insurance. Or that unemployment is at about 20% or more. But underwear flapping in the wind? Woe! That's where the buck stops!